This invention relates to a method of making a booklet, apparatus therefor and product therefrom, and, more particularly, to a high retention, direct mail promotional vehicle.
With increasing amounts of direct mail advertising, it has been found desirable to provide a vehicle of high retentivity. For example, a pocket calendar can insure retention by the recipient and thus continued exposure to advertising indicia associated therewith. A serious problem exists in the production of booklets having suitable retention features because of the need for a considerable number of pages. For example, even a compact personal pocket calendar requires two additional sheets and this has proved to be a problem in efficient and economic production. It will be appreciated that economy is a prerequisite in direct mail promotion and the aligning and securing a number of sheets poses production problems that could only be overcome in the past by the expenditure of considerable sums of money. In the past, for example, it has not been unusual for setup time to amount to between $5,000 and $10,000 for a particular printing. Now, according to the invention, this setup time is reduced materially because of the in-line operation provided by the invention.
According to the method of the invention, a single continuous web is printed on both faces with a combination of indicia featuring both that suited for retention and that suited for promotion. The thus-printed web is then slit longitudinally to provide at least three web portions with one of the web portions being wider than the others. The narrower web portions are superposed and longitudinally glued on the first web portion and alignment during processing is provided through the use of static electricity. Thereafter, the superposed assembly is subjected to two plowing steps to provide a compact booklet featuring a gate fold. Thus, there is provided a booklet having at least 16 and advantageously 20 or more panels or pages to achieve both the objectives of retention and promotion.
Other objects and advantages of the invention may be seen in the details of processing and construction set forth in the ensuing specification.